This could have been Linux big chance
The Vista debacle put a lot of people off Windows, when I got it with a new PC it finally made me try out Ubuntu. with a little tweaking it was more or less XP with a new face. The problem is most of the Linux crowd have tried to differentiate themselves with the new user interfaces, just like MS is doing. Unfortunatley these new interfaces (from all parties) are almost universally reviled. The Office ribbon, the new Gnome, that interface Ubuntu switched to that got universally slated whose name escapes me - people f***ing HATE all this change for the sake of change.
The Linux crowd could differentiate themselves by NOT differentiating. Have a user interface experience that is as close to XP as they can legally get away with, polish it, and stop dicking with it. then turn attention to the little niggling problems that Linux never seems to get a handle on. I don't have all day to to sort out my printers and wireless dongles; yes I could probably get them running after some forum Googling, but in much the same way as I could probably lose ten kilos after a regime of exercise, that's not going to happen because I don't want to make that effort. Over the next few years many will be thinking about switching away from XP, and it's a real shame that there's no Linux ' more or less XP' that an average user could switch to with a minimum of hassle.
"The year of Linux" is a phrase that has been bandied about for yonks but with the situation Microsoft are creating for themselves it could have finally become reality in recent times. Unfortunately most Linux outfits are running away from success like they have a deadly allergy.
Having said all that, Red Hat are doing all right aren't they? Wonder if someone could convince them that an official 'civilian' distro of RHEL would be good advertising?